Rose McGowan a No-Show for Cocaine Hearing

LEESBURG, Va. (CN) – Actress Rose McGowan on Thursday waived her appearance in court on a felony charge of cocaine possession, and now won’t enter a plea to the charge until January.

McGowan, perhaps best known for her role in the 2007 film “Death Proof,” is one of several actresses who’ve accused movie mogul Harvey Weinstein of forcing them into unwanted sex. Weinstein has denied the allegations.

Prosecutors say cocaine was found among McGowan’s belongings that were left on a Jan. 20 flight to Washington Dulles International Airport.

She was expected to appear in Loudon County General District Court Thursday, but stayed away at the request of her lawyer.

Judge Dean Worcster scheduled a preliminary hearing for Jan. 23, when McGowan is expected to enter a plea.

On Thursday morning, reporters packed the courtroom while others lay in wait for McGowen’s lawyer, James Hundley, outside the courthouse.

But Hundley exited a side door and quickly walked toward his car, ignoring reporters’ questions.

Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority Police obtained a warrant for McGowan’s arrest on Feb. 1, but the starlet said she ignored it for months, worried that she was being followed by people hired by Hollywood director Harvey Weinstein.

Earlier this week in an interview with The New Yorker, Hundley said he and his client believed the cocaine found on the wallet was an act of retaliation by Weinstein for her outspokenness on his alleged conduct.

McGowan has alleged Weinstein raped her in a hotel room in 1997 and offered her $1 million in hush money as recently as September.

Weinstein and McGowan reportedly reached a $100,000 settlement for the 1997, but the actress told the New York Times last month it was only this summer she discovered the deal did not include a confidentiality agreement.

McGowan also told The Times when a member of Weinstein’s inner circle offered her the $1 million, she demanded $6 million instead, as “part counteroffer, part slow torture of her former tormentor.”

The actress said she could have negotiated at least $3 million but was ultimately repulsed at the idea.

“Ew, gross, you’re disgusting. I don’t want your money, that would make me feel disgusting,” she said in the October interview.

McGowan said she only learned she was facing charges in Virginia that month.

“Are they trying to silence me? There is a warrant out for my arrest in Virginia. What a load of HORSESHIT,” she wrote on Twitter at the time.